Allianz Hurling League: Understrength Limerick outclass Antrim in Division One opener
- Published
The Saffrons were unable to live with the All-Ireland champions' youthful line-up at Thurles
Limerick outclassed Antrim 1-36 to 1-9 in the Allianz Hurling League Division 1B opener in Thurles despite starting with only four of their All-Ireland winning side from last July.
Helped by a strong breeze, Antrim led 0-3 to 0-1 early on and a Fred McCurry goal put them 1-5 to 0-6 ahead.
But nine straight points left Limerick 0-16 to 1-7 up at the break with Adam English firing 0-9 in the first half.
Shane O'Brien hit Limerick's goal after the restart as they utterly dominated.
Even against a severely understrength Limerick side, it was always going to be a tough league opener against a youthful line-up out to impress manager John Kiely.
And Limerick's All-Ireland starters from last year's summer four-in-a-row clinching success over Kilkenny were 2023 player of the year Diarmaid Byrnes plus other influential performers Gearoid Hegarty, David Reidy and Dan Morrissey.
Antrim minus retired McManus and Dunloy quintet
Antrim, meanwhile, were without long-time talisman Neil McManus following his retirement with Dunloy quintet Nigel Elliott, Ryan Elliott, Seaan Elliott, Keelan Molloy and Eoin O'Neill having opted out of the league campaign and Domhnall Nugent and Joe Maskey also not part of Darren Gleeson's panel this year.
Two Conal Cunning frees and a point from late inclusion Aaron Bradley helped the Saffrons lead 0-3 to 0-1 before the impressive English and Shane O'Brien both fired two points apiece to put the defending league champions ahead for the first time.
Antrim's intensity was good early on and debutant McCurry's 18th-minute goal restored their lead as the Cushendall man produced a fine run and finish.
But after Niall O'Connor's second long-range point of the first half put Antrim 1-6 to 0-7 up after 22 minutes, they were held scoreless for the next 15 minutes as English ran riot with five points and Donnacha O'Dalaigh also hit two points from play.
Antrim free-taker Cunning, after a number of earlier misses from placed ball, finally got his radar sorted in first-half injury but the Saffrons were six in arrears at the break and facing into the strong wind after the resumption.
Nine of Adam English's 0-10 tally came in the first half
There was thus a sense of foreboding going into the second half and so it proved as O'Brien hit Limerick's goal immediately after the restart following an errant pass in his own defence by Ronan McCloskey which was picked up by Hegarty.
Nine further unanswered points followed from the All-Ireland champions as the spirit seemed to drain away from the Saffrons.
A 50th-minute Rian McMullan score finally ended another long Antrim scoring drought and Scott Walsh notched their only other second-half point.
Despite Limerick registering an astonishing 37 scores for a game at this time of the year, the final margin could have even greater as Antrim goalkeeper Tiernan Smyth made two great saves to deny English and O'Dalaigh goals in the second half.
English finished with 0-10 for the All-Ireland champions, which included 0-5 from play, with O'Brien and O Dalaigh firing 1-5 and 0-7 respectively as Hegarty contributed 0-3.
After Sunday's drubbing, Antrim boss Gleeson now faces the task of raising morale for next weekend's home game against Dublin which on the face of it, looked a winnable contest judging by their recent battles against the same opposition.
However, the Saffrons will have to raise their standards considerably to compete with Michael Donoghue's side.